Determining liability is crucial, for the best chances of obtaining compensation for an injured child and miscellaneous damages.
In school, a child may get scrapes, bruises, and cuts while playing. They are all more or less enthusiastic, play roughly, fall, and get injured. But certain injuries occur due to negligence or another’s malice. When such incidents occur, parents can seek legal action against the party at fault. Therefore parents need to be educated about legal rights and options and how to handle school injuries.
As a parent of an injured child, you can obtain compensation for a child’s treatment, pain, and trauma due to bullying, school’s negligence, or post-school activities. If your child is a victim of an injury at school for the said reasons, give your local child injury lawyer a call. An expert in this specific area can be your best guide and friend at this hour.
Bullying
When another student is responsible for your child’s hurt, the first thing you may do is confront that child’s parents. Often this appears the right step, as the meeting of parents and discussing the issues can constructively resolve the matter. What if another child intentionally injures your child severely? After an initial dialogue with the school, you can file a personal injury lawsuit against the parents of the bully.
Usually, the cases of bullying take a longer span and are unaddressed, as the bullied child feels intimidated to report out of fear or shame. Bullying is dangerous, and schools must take this seriously. Suppose your child faced a bully from a classmate for a long time and the school authority didn’t handle the matter properly, you have the scope to take a legal stand against the school for its negligence and allowing the abuser to continue with harmful behavior.
Injury during sports
In many schools, parents have to sign waivers when their wards participate in school sports or after school activities. These waivers are to do away with liabilities, but they often don’t stand strong in court, specifically when any kind of negligence causes injury. Suppose a coach fails to supervise properly or encourages students for risky drills or exercises, both the school and the coach could be liable for the resulting damages.
Private or public schools
If your child gets injured in school, you can file a lawsuit against the authority in the civil court system of your state.
There are legal differences between filing a lawsuit against a private school compared to a public school. Public schools come under government jurisdiction; therefore filing cases against a public school is difficult compared to a privately owned school.
Parents can sue a private school for negligence, or for not being able to provide safety or failing to reasonably protect a student from injuries.
How to determine liability?
Determining liability is crucial, for the best chances of obtaining compensation for an injured child and miscellaneous damages. Some schools will understand their liability if they failed to meet the safety measures for the children. For instance, suppose a school fails to fix a leaky source, and a child falls and breaks her ankle, the school will face liability for the injury. If another student pushes your ward and causes him severe injury like broken bones, then the parents of the aggressive child would be liable. And if there are instances of your child bullied at school and he has reported to the school, but they didn’t take necessary measures, you may take legal action against the school and the parents of the bully.
If facing any situation mentioned above, the best thing you can do is consult a child injury lawyer with a proven record. Your lawyer can help you in determining who is liable for your child’s injury.
Join the conversation!